Sometimes you just want to slap your contact list silly. It feels like 100 years since you saw any action from your old contacts. You’ve tried everything. You have no offers left apart from a 99% discount on your own shirt. If you have to think of another ‘engaging’ subject line you’ll use your laptop as a spade to bury yourself with.
It seems that only something magical will bring them back to life. But there is a way to a fairytale ending. After all, Sleeping Beauty slept for 100 years, you just need to be your customers’ Prince Charming.
Believe it or not and despite all the effort that goes into giving old contact lists CPR, it is cheaper to bring old customers back than it is to recruit new ones.
It is also more efficient. Return Path found that over 25 per cent of email addresses had been inactive for 30 days or more. So your painfully crafted subject lines might not even being read.
But don't stop believing just yet. There is a way to poke your princesses awake, all you need is a strategy.
But I can’t give you one.
Unfortunately there is no definitive way to re-engage a sleeping contact list, it is entirely dependent on who they are. The only practical advice that I can give you is to find out who your sleeping contacts are. Put the addresses that haven’t engaged with you during the last 30 days into one comprehensive list to make them easier to deal with.
Past that its all a case of trial and error. A single kiss from one handsome Prince won’t make all of your customers wake up and smell the special offers.
However, thinking about what made your contacts raise their hand in the first place before they decided to hit the hay will give you an insight into what might get them going again.
Did they engage with a particular product? Send them a comparison data sheet that gives them more information about it. Or a blog that tells them what others think of the product.
The magic in your kiss is your content as well as your offers, but you don’t want to slobber all over them either. Ration your emails but make them big hitters. Give them a real reason to open your emails, don’t just batter them in the face with discounts.
Emails that say ‘hello again’ or are tailored to public holidays are particularly successful according to Marketo . Send them a Happy New Year message that gives them a summary of upcoming company events.
Also think about the long-term rather than the one hit wonder. Establish a campaign of emails that build towards a goal, whether that’s selling a product, an event, or turning your contacts into active content sharers.
The visuals are also important. Make them fall head over heels with a striking, consistent and personalised email design. Also ensure that any content you promote is of high quality and works on any platform. This will leave your customers enchanted rather than closing and reloading their emails in exasperation.
Yes, crafting a beautiful subject line might get them to click, but if they can’t open their email or what’s in it isn’t relevant, then they’ll just head right back to dream land (and they won’t be dreaming about your emails).
But at the end of the day (or night), if your contacts are sleeping like babies, then you need to get trigger happy on that delete button. It’s not worth plugging an empty inbox with your time, resources and stunning emails.
The process may at times feel like you’re scrambling in the dark, but remember, Sleeping Beauty did get her wake up call in the end, and when it came it was magical. Your customers will appreciate your effort and love you for it eventually. Believe in your email campaign, because if it really is magic, you’ll have a happily ever after in the end.